On 4th April 1939, the newly mechanised regiments of the Cavalry combined with the battalions of the Royal Tank Corps to create a single Corps, known as The Royal Armoured Corps.

As the corps museum of the Royal Armoured Corps and the
regimental museum of the Royal Tank Regiment, The Tank Museum is responsible
for telling the story of tanks and the men who served in them. Long After the Battle will tell
visitors about the lives of the first men to serve in the Royal Armoured Corps
during the Second World War.

The exhibition will focus on five particular soldiers
who saw action from the D-Day landings in June 1944 until the end of the war.
You’ll hear from Bob Chappell, a Wireless Operator with 147th Regiment RAC;
Captain David Render of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry; Corporal Reg Snowling of
the 23rd Hussars; Michael Sutton – a Sherman Flail Commander with
the Westminster Dragoons; and Charlie Burgess, a tank driver with the 8th
Kings Royal Irish Hussars.

"You have to realise I
was 19, brand-new out of Sandhurst. Then suddenly I was pitchforked into a
frontline tank regiment, who were highly seasoned. I decided the best thing to
do was to show them I wasn’t afraid and so I led. I always led my troop and
because I survived, they came round to accept that perhaps I was okay.” Captain David Render

"I was a Gunner Instructor
from the Lancers to the Hussars, and I was in several tanks. Every time they kept asking for ‘Titch’ just
because I was small and could get in I reckon!” Corporal Reg Snowling

Their experiences will be told through filmed interviews
undertaken by the Collections Team alongside text and imagery. Five vehicles
used by the RAC during the Second World War will also feature: a Matilda I, the
newly restored Matilda II, a Valentine, a Churchill, and a Sherman. The
exhibition will also examine the role of the RAC today through interviews with
serving soldiers and draw comparisons with their Second World War counterparts.

The Tank, Back to the Future exhibition will be dismantled
in January and February 2019; the last date it is open to the public is the 25th
of January. The research and design of the new exhibition is all being done
in-house and it will be installed throughout March 2019.

Long After the Battle will be on display for approximately eighteen months.

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